Chapter 10: Cult

The police station was usually like a pond. On the surface, you couldn't find much. The life swimming and crawling underneath was slow and dimmed. There wasn't much fuss. When Jess and Angie led Lauren and me into the station they dropped a boulder into that pond. There were more than ripples. There were fish leaping into the air.

Johanna, the secretary-in-training, was only a few years older than us. She had two officers carry the comfiest chairs from the break room into Dad's office. She made a run for lattes. Lauren started to cry a couple times, but stopped herself. I wasn't worried. I could see it in her face. The reason she cried now was because she felt safe. She wanted to tell someone.

There were only three officers at the station and our unexpected arrival put them all the work. They made calls to two officers checking on an abandoned car. The phones were glued to their ears. I wasn't sure whom else they called—maybe wildlife control—but this was the busiest I'd ever seen them.

In the few times we were left on our own in Dad's small office, Lauren questioned me.

"Those weren't normal wolves," she said.

"They saved us," I said. My eyes stayed on the glass walls. No one was spying on us, but I wanted to be sure no one would come in and surprise us. "Whatever they were, they're not going to come after us. They killed Laurent—"

"That guy—you knew him, Bella—you definitely knew him," Lauren said loudly.

An officer looked over. I looked away.

"Keep your voice down, please?"

I touched her shoulder. She shook my hand off.

"He was fast. He was strong. He had no problem killing us." Lauren listed with growing confidence. "He talked like it wasn't his first time. And he fought off those wolves—those huge wolves—and he wriggled out of them. A human couldn't do that."

"They got him in the end," I repeated. "He can't hurt you now."

"That's not my problem—you're my problem." Lauren pulled the wool blanket closer. The blanket had done its job—she wasn't in shock anymore. "Tell me. Right frickin' now. What was that guy?"

"Do you know why he decided to kill you?" I asked. I shook off my blanket. I was hot. "You didn't walk away. You knew too much. Do you really want to know more?"

Lauren inhaled sharply through her nose. Her lips pursed. "Are you saying there's others like him?" Lauren slid to the edge of the cushioned armchair. She leaned forward. Her voice was low. "Like the Cullens?"

My mouth gaped open. No officers were watching us through the window now. Lauren shook her head once and her jaw tightened.

"The Cullens are good." I leaned forward. "If they were still around Laurent would never have attacked us."

"But you did something to make Edward moody or whatever and they all left," Lauren whispered venomously. "Once again, making this your fault. Why was that Laurent freak after you?"

"A friend of his tried to kill me," I explained, careful not to imply the v-word. "The Cullens protected me. My mom was killed instead. Then his friend was killed. His friend's girlfriend got him involved, thus he tried to kill me. The end."

Lauren straightened. The reflection of light in her eyes doubled as water pooled. She crossed her arms. "I'm sorry. About your mom."

I nodded sharply once.

"This isn't a gang thing, right?" She blinked a few times. She wiped a stray droplet as easily as she'd wipe an eyelash, completely nonchalant.

I shook my head and curled my legs under. I leaned back, grateful for the efforts of Johanna and the officers.

Lauren spoke calmly with an unwavering glare. "Laurent wasn't human."

Lauren and I locked eyes. No head movement. No words. I couldn't be responsible for answering that. Lauren would have to decide for herself if she was going to believe what she'd seen.

That was when Johanna returned with lattes. She knocked on the door with her elbow. An officer opened the door for her.

"Nothing fancy," she confessed, "but you looked like you could use something nice." She handed us each a cup. Heat swirled out the tiny oval openings. Caffeine and a shot of sweet vanilla warmed the room. "Bella, we called your dad."

I nodded.

Johanna sat on the cluttered desk. She brushed papers into neater piles to make room. She was curvy, with some weight earned from long hours sitting behind a desk and answering small-town panicked calls late into the night. "He was out on a call when you came in. But it'll be ten minutes tops. Promise." She traced an 'x' shape over her heart.

"Thank you, Johanna." The smallest smile I'd ever smiled moved my lips. The coffee was a necessary gift. My eyelids were drooping. I hadn't realized how tired I was.

Johanna folded her hands together and turned her eyes to my left. "Lauren, we couldn't reach your dad—"

"He's out of town," Lauren said coldly. "Business trip."

"Of course," Joanna said, completely unfazed. "Your mom is on her way now."

Lauren closed her eyes and took a sip through the steam. "Thank you."

"Can I get anything else for you?"

Lauren and I shook our heads. Lauren kept the lid ready at her lips, but didn't take another sip. I had a low heat tolerance when it came to food. Holding it was enough.

Johanna told us that Jess and Angie were waiting outside. They had called their parents. Two officers were sent to the cabin. This was the closest encounter they'd had with survivors. They needed to warn anyone else using their cabin that it wasn't safe.

Lauren almost said something, afraid for the officers, but she saw my tensed expression and the slight turn of my head. Johanna's brow pressed in, but if she suspected something she didn't say it.

If someone had asked me if Lauren and I could ever be alone in the same room yesterday, the answer would have been simple. Today she was listening to me. It was a weird day.

Lauren's mom arrived first. Her appearance was surprisingly contrary to Lauren's. Her hair was brown and her skin olive. They were similar in height, with Lauren an inch above her mom. Lauren's mom had a straight bob with a thick, natural wave where as Lauren's was like tall stalks of wheat.

Lauren's mom—Mrs. Mallory—had brought Lauren's younger sister with her. The girl resembled her mom. Her hair was in two long braids. She was ten, eleven years old. Lauren hugged her sister and told her she was fine. It was then that I learned that she had an older brother—who had moved to the city where he attended university—and that they agreed that they'd wait to tell him.

Dad arrived a minute after Mrs. Mallory. He came straight to me and squeezed me hard enough that I was winded. Once he was sure I was alive he checked my cuts and scrapes. Johanna had already wound my wrist to brace it. She had basic first-aid training, but she couldn't say absolutely whether my wrist was more than sprained. Johanna had also used disinfectant on my cuts. Lauren didn't tell her that I got those before we ran from the 'wolves'.

"Jo, take Mrs. Mallory to the break room." Dad's hands were on his waist, lining his thumbs with his gun belt. He was in chief mode. "She'll be more comfortable there while I talk to the girls."

Johanna opened the office door and leaned against it. Her polished fingernails extended in the direction of the break room. "Mrs. Mallory, follow me, please."

Mrs. Mallory, in a very unlike-Lauren way, timidly did as she was told, nervous eyes on her daughter as she went.

"We won't be long," Dad promised. Dad listened for the door's quiet click before he spoke. "Now I know your girls went to the Stanley cabin."

"We went for a hike," I said.

"Into the woods," Dad said sternly. He crossed his arms and leaned against his desk.

"Bella brought the dog spray you gave her, Chief Swan," Lauren said. She was great at acting polite when she needed to be. She sounded as innocent as a doe and her long mascara-coated eyelashes complimented the façade. "There was a meadow Jessica wanted us to see. When Bella was looking around she got turned around and we had to look for her."

I was surprised that Lauren didn't mention my panic attack or that I'd run off. Not that it mattered since it was clearly my fault either way.

"I found her first, and just as we were headed back the wolves came," Lauren finished. "They were watching us for a bit, and then something about us must have made them mad or maybe they realized they were hungry because they attacked just like that."

"We got away," I emphasized. "Lauren knew the way back. The wolves didn't follow us past the meadow."

Dad bowed his head.

Lauren and I exchanged a glance. It was simple. Close to the truth. Dad would believe it.

"Okay." Dad nodded. His head stayed down. "We'll have to keep people away from the cabins up that way. The hiking paths that way are off-limits, and I have to warn you both about any hiking through unmonitored paths."

Lauren and I muttered agreements in unison.

"Lauren, you can go home with your mother now." Dad waved at the window. An officer came to the door. "Take Ms. Mallory to her mother in the break room. She can go home now."

"Yes, sir."

Lauren's wide eyes turned on me.

"Tell Jess and Angie they can go home," I said.

"Text me when you're out," Lauren said coolly. A threat. She wasn't done interrogating.

Dad frowned. He knew Lauren wasn't the first person I usually texted—and never of my own free will. Hopefully he would ignore his cop instincts and assume that going through a scare together was enough to earn a friendly texting relationship.

Lauren glanced back a couple times through the closed glass door, even after she met up with her mother. I watched her return the wool blanket and leave. Dad sat with me in silence.

The minute hand on his watch was visible even with his arms crossed. With nothing else to do I observed minutes pass. Dad sighed heavily once. He crossed and then uncrossed his ankles. As much as he was glad I was safe, I knew he was considering the best way to ground me.

"Your mother wasn't very good at staying in one place." Dad said it with a lump in his throat.

The blanket had fallen to my waist by then. I hoisted it over my shoulders and wrapped my fingers around the ends and curled it closed.

"You…well—Bella—you're more like me," he continued. He cleared his throat a couple times. "You like belonging to one place. I see that." He uncrossed his arms and stood. "But I can sometimes see a little of your mom in you." He placed his hat next to a picture frame. It had my latest school picture and in the corner an old picture from when I was a baby, before Mom left with me. The three of us were in one frame. "You didn't leave your friends by accident, did you?"

My feet were going numb under me. I shifted my weight off the legs and turned my face away. I leaned my elbow on the arm of the chair.

"The meadow where Jess took us was where Edward and I had our first date," I said as tonelessly as I could. "I had a panic attack and I needed some space. I got lost."

Dad crouched in front of me and put a hand on my knee. "You don't need to blame yourself."

If he only knew how close he'd come to never seeing me again. If he only knew it was almost my fault Lauren died. He wouldn't be comforting me.

"You and Lauren are safe," he reminded me. He took my hand and squeezed it gently. "I know Edward leaving wasn't easy. You handled it the best way you knew how. It's not wrong to get upset about it."

Getting Lauren involved was my fault. Laurent had come for me. But Laurent was going to come no matter where I was. If I had been alone Lauren wouldn't be involved—but Lauren had helped me stall Laurent. I refused to feel guilty about a vampire tracking me down to keep his unrequited love from killing herself because her boyfriend got killed while trying to kill me.

"Getting back to normal after…somebody leaves you…" Dad rubbed the end of his nose and sighed. "I know it's not easy, but...uh…I think Jake is a good kid…" Dad scratched his head. He frowned. "Jake still hasn't spoken to you?"

I shook my head.

"Oh." Dad furrowed his brow. "Billy isn't saying much about it, but I think it's about some new group Jake is hanging around with."

Jake, Quil and Embry. They'd been best friends since they were toddlers. What if Jake had decided to see what was so special about Embry's new friends? What if Jake was growing distant just as Embry had? No way was I going to let Jake go that easily.

"I'm proud of you, Bella." Dad put his arm around me. "Very proud of you. For a teenage daughter you don't cause me much grief." He stood and kissed my forehead. "A small scare once and a while is probably good for me."

We both smiled.

"Thanks, Chief Swan."

Dad laughed. "Don't you Chief Swan me." He took his hat from the desk and wagged it at me. "No more hiking and no more cabins this summer."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Dad put his hat on and frowned. "Something tells me I do."

I crossed an 'x' over my heart. "No hiking. No cabins."

"Good. I'll drive you home."

I was unsurprised that Lauren had sent me ten messages by the time I got home. I was less surprised that she was increasingly insulting. What surprised me the least was Dad's decision to take away my phone until morning. He let me text my friends first to say I was home and that I'd talk to them tomorrow. Then my phone (and graciously my phone charger with it) went into Dad's room for the night.

Dad and I had fish for dinner. It was an earlier catch that Dad de-boned and seasoned. We tried quinoa as a side with some steamed green and yellow beans. We didn't say much over dinner. When Dad would try to initiate a conversation I would be too far inside my thoughts to answer. I would mumble a word or an unenthusiastic sentence. Dad ordered me to relax and he did the dishes.

After having a shower and changing into comfortable pajamas, I turned on my computer. I lay on my bed and tried to remember the details of the story Jake once told me. There was nothing new. There was the same legend Jake had told me. I skimmed a story about the first member of the tribe that changed into a wolf, how his sons also became wolves to defend against the Cold Ones, and then there was something about his wife dying. There wasn't a lot. What I could find was summarized in short paragraphs.

To try my hand at another useless search, I typed in Volturri. Next I typed in the names I knew—Aro, Caius, Marcus, Didyme—but expectedly the search engine suggestions about what I was really looking for were wrong. There were a few sites about vampires in Italy. My search was a circle without end. No matter how far I stretched out I could only find the beginning again.

My laptop closed with a small snap. My face was flat on my bed, nose scrunched into the sheets. My hair was almost dry. I shook my hands through it once and combed out a knot. Maybe I would lie like that until morning.

A knock. My head popped up when I heard it. I opened my door to check, but no one was there. The knock came again from the other side of my room. I looked to the window just in time to see a stone hit it.

I jumped up and over my bed and threw up the window. The screen got in the way of my view. I could only look through a tiny hole. There was someone posed to throw another stone.

"Hey!" I half-whispered half-shouted. "Whoever you are, quit throwing rocks!"

"Bella." He dropped the stone in his hand. His hair had been buzzed off. Had he grown a foot in the last week? "It's Jake."

"Why…?" I bit my lip. I had too many questions. "Wait there!"

"Bella—"

"Wait right there." I shut the window.

Hurriedly I left my room, quietly shutting the door and then taking the stairs two at a time. I had slipped a sweater on, as it was getting dark and the air had cooled. I passed the living room where Dad was watching TV. The volume was low but I heard crowd cheers and the crack of a ball against a bat.

"I'm getting some fresh air. I won't go far just outside the door," I said. Hopefully my breathlessness didn't give me away.

Dad's head turned but I shut the front door behind me before he could speak. I went around the house. My flip-flops clicked. Jake could easily hear me. He'd had time to flee. My heart skipped when I saw him waiting, arms crossed and eyes watching my approach.

The last light of day highlighted the changes. As I'd noticed he was a foot taller and his hair was buzzed off. His muscles were even more defined. He seemed…aged. This was definitely Jake. His eyes. His face. But there was no way this guy was younger than me—he seemed to have aged three years in a week—maybe five years. He didn't have a teenage body or face. His cheeks and jaw were etched in strong lines even in the dimming light. It was odd that he was only wearing basketball shorts. He wasn't wearing shoes.

"Did you fly here?" I asked.

Jake raised a brow.

I pointed at his feet. "You're not wearing shoes."

He stared down. "Yeah." He nodded. He blinked. He raised his head. "Are you okay?"

"Jake, your shoelessness isn't that offensive," I teased. "I think I'll survive."

"No—you—Bella, what happened in the woods…" Jake uncrossed his arms. He took one step forward and then one step back.

"Did Dad tell Billy already?" Was this Dad's way of getting Jake to talk to me again? Guilt? Was he trying to worry Jake into conversation? Ten points for dad. It was a low blow but…Jake was here.

"No—It doesn't matter." Jake turned his side to me. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm alive," I promised.

Jake's jaw tightened. "You know what attacked you?"

"Just some wolves prowling," I said and waved my hand. "Into the woods and all that."

"Wolves," Jake echoed.

"They could have been werewolves," I said with a laugh.

Jake's head raised. His eyes were wide. He didn't speak. He didn't laugh. He didn't say I was crazy. He didn't offer to help me slay them.

Oh. My. God.

"Jake." I crossed my arms and stepped closer.

Jake stepped back.

Let's try that again. I stepped forward…and Jake stepped back. Not only had he been avoiding me but even when were in the same place he was afraid to get too close.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I should be getting home," he dodged. "It's late."

I put my foot down. Jake was not running away from me. "Are you hanging out with Embry or Quil these days?"

Jake frowned. "Bella—"

I stepped forward and this time Jake held his ground. "Have you talked to Quil or are you ignoring him like how Embry started ignoring you?"

"I can't talk about this." Jake's arms hung at his sides.

"I told my dad it was wolves," I said. "Lauren was there. Not sure if you knew that already."

"That's the girl that hated you," Jake said with a shake of his head.

"She's keeping quiet about it, for now."

Jake exhaled and crouched. He put his head in his hands. "This isn't easy, Bella."

Jake—the Jake I knew—wasn't going to keep secrets from me. This wasn't new to me. If I could get a vampire to confess I could get the truth out of Jake.

"The Cold Ones," I said. My knees touched the ground. "Vampires. You told me about them once. Remember how worried you were when I…"—a lump formed in my throat—"I started going out with Edward Cullen?"

Jake raised his head. He looked pale. "Bella," he whispered. "You knew."

"You know about the wolves," I said. I touched his shoulder. "Please, Jake. It's me. Trust me, please."

He stood. He started pacing. I continued to kneel.

Jake's hand stayed on his waist, just above the band of his shorts. His silent pacing made it harder to ignore the changes. I imagined this version of Jake letting me hang around his garage. This was the Jake who had carved a swan for me. This was the Jake I'd kissed. Now he was bare-chested with a firm six-pack. His hipbones tracing down with the sunset over the house… It was distracting. Cheeks aflame, I stood and faced the yard. I hoped Dad would stay inside.

"I know about the wolves," Jake whispered.

"They're not just wolves, right?"

His nod was slight, but he definitely nodded.

"They saved Lauren and me," I said. "We were trying to talk our way out of it—"

Jake laughed coldly. "Only Bella Swan would try to talk someone into not eating her."

His eerie half-smile faded. He noticed my mouth pop open. Jake hadn't said the exact words, but it couldn't mean anything else. With all our talk about vampires, I had never been so sure that I wasn't the only one talking seriously. This wasn't a joke about TV show references. Jake knew.

"His name was Laurent," I said.

Jake stood perfectly still.

"The vampire."

Those two words hung in the air. Jake and I locked eyes. I was honest. Finally—finally I had told someone completely. I'd broken the rule. My body was heavy. I struggled to stand up with the weight of that broken rule. But my head was like a waterfall, noisy and rushing. Thoughts were flowing down my throat. Everything I couldn't say was on my tongue. If I said it now, if I finally let Jake knew how right he was to worry, how our conversations about fiction had helped me sort through my own reality. Instead I said none of that.

Jake turned his body and closed the space. His body heat warmed me without touching. I had to look up at him. My head tilted.

"You never said it was real," Jake said.

"I couldn't." I bit my lip and bowed my head.

"I knew something was wrong." Jake touched my shoulder. His hands on me—I felt like I was leaning into a fireplace, unafraid of the sparks flying. "You couldn't tell me because of him." Jake's hand withdrew. "You found out what the Cullens were and they told you to keep quiet."

I raised my chin. "The Cullens are good, Jake. I know there are a lot of stories out there…but I owe them my life. Carlisle especially…"

"Bella—your mom…" Jake's arms tightened around me. His chin floated above my head. "I'm sorry. Bella, I didn't think—I'm sorry."

My cheek rested on his bare chest. Maybe he'd think the reason my cheeks were pink was because his skin was hot. "The vampire who tried to kill me today, it was a friend of his…It seems I can't go long without a vampire trying to kill me…and someone innocent getting in the way." I laughed weakly. "Mind you, Lauren doesn't really fall into the innocent category—"

Jake pushed back and raised my chin to meet my eyes. "The vampire who attacked you today came after you—tracked you—it wasn't a coincidence?"

I frowned. "It's a complicated story."

"I'll listen carefully."

I shook my head. "Later. Explain the wolves." I stepped back, crossed my arms, and narrowed my eyes. "You don't look sick but your temperature is high enough to boil an egg. Plus you've forgotten how shoes work."

Jake brought his palm to his shaved head. He brushed his hand over his scalp.

"Plus the new hairdo—which is really different, for you. Plus—I'm not an idiot." I rolled my eyes. "You look like you've been through a time machine."

Jake smirked. "Sorry I couldn't bring back any souvenirs from the future. Almost got you a sweet robot dog, but he jumped out at the last minute."

My frown didn't break. Jake was not getting out of this.

"It's part of my DNA," Jake explained. His hands twitched uselessly, rising and falling as he spoke. "My tribe responds to the presence of vampires. We change. To protect our people." He scratched his head. "With the Cullens living here—with their coven being that big—it started to effect us. Embry changed before me."

My hands flew to cover my mouth. The group Jake and Quil had worried was taking Embry away from them—they were the wolves!

"The wolf attacks weren't us," Jake assured me, palms up. "It was that vamp who attacked you. He's been in the area, circling. He was looking for something—we guessed that much—but we didn't think…" His hands dropped and he shrugged. "I don't know why I couldn't figure it out. Sam told me the Cullens were vampires."

Forcibly I lowered my hands. Jake was fidgeting, probably worried how I was taking this, and there I was looking freaked out.

"Were you…?" I took a deep breath and turned in a semi-circle. My body felt fidgety. Ready to run. "Jake."

That wolf's eyes—it was more than intelligence. That wolf had recognized me. The other wolves were holding Laurent down and he'd helped me cut the backpack loose.

Jake's eyes were wide. "How did you figure it out that quick!?"

I laid my palms against my cheeks. "Jake. You were that wolf?"

"We were tracking that vampire—"

"Laurent—"

"Yeah—and we were close when I recognized your scent," he said excitedly. "It was weird because I knew it was you right away."

I pressed my arms to my sides. "I smell?"

"Everyone gives off a scent—Bella, it isn't sweat, so you can relax—it's a good smell." Jake's face reddened. "You smell good."

I relaxed. "Thank you." I tucked my damp hair behind my ears. It was the first time since I heard the rock on my window that I remembered my hair was drying and my less-than-stunning attire included pajama shorts and a plain light grey sweater. Jake wasn't even wearing a shirt and I somehow felt underdressed.

"When I realized how close you were to that vampire, I couldn't hear Sam anymore, I ran…" He shrugged. "It was the first time that I wanted to be…this." His eyes fell to the ground. "I was able to help you. Being a wild animal was the only way to protect you from a monster."

Jake exhaled softly. It occurred to me that there was a lot of fiction where vampires enjoyed being vampires. There were tortured vampires, of course, but then there were the ones like Dracula that thrived in the dark. Was there a tale where a werewolf was happy? I could remember flickers of kids' cartoons but…what about mythology? The depiction that came to mind was The Wolfman. The red-brown wolf in the woods didn't look like that…and Jake said he'd recognized me. Had Jake avoided me because he was suffering?

"You weren't sick." My heart sunk. "That was because you were…changing…into a werewolf." I whispered the word.

Jake watched the word form on my lips. He didn't say a word. The fear in his eyes was ever-present. He was afraid this would turn me against him.

"If I had stayed with you—"

"You could've been hurt," Jake interrupted. "When I change I'm more animal. My senses are sharpened. When I first changed everything was too loud—my own breathing, traffic, cicadas outside, the birds—and I could smell everything in the fridge from my room. My dad's scent was the first. I realized I could smell the difference between what he'd touched and what I'd touched that day." He laughed. "I broke a few picture frames, shredded my sheets—basically tore my room apart."

Yes, the scene from The Wolfman played in my head. The body stretched in grotesque growths. Cloths tore apart. The man hadn't seemed very comfortable—what with the cries of pain and…Oh no. I knew in my heart that it was different. My head ignored me.

"It's confusing," Jake said with a grim grin. He'd noticed how pale I was. "It's new. But I'll figure it out. The others said it takes time. Most of the guys say they can't remember life before they first changed. Being a wolf is just who they are. Who I am—now."

I shook my head. Again. And again. I was dizzy. Jake was a werewolf.

Jake raised a hand and then turned away. "Bella, if this is too much, I'll understand, okay?" His voice was low. "The last thing you want is something this complicated."

I circled around Jake.

His eyes were teary. "You should leave me alone. It would be better for you." He wiped his forearm across his cheek to stop a tear. "I should leave you."

It wasn't a decision. It was instinct that raised my arms. It was my pounding heart that tightened my arms around his torso.

"Don't leave me," I begged. "Jake, please don't leave me."

With my ear pressed on his chest I felt his heart beating. Fast. Faster. His hand stroked my hair. His thumb trailed down my cheek, my neck, my shoulder, and my arm.

"Bella."

Jake lifted me like I was weightless. My arms were around his neck and my legs around his waist. His hands were on my legs. He kissed me. Gone were thoughts of sweet, gentle kisses like our first. Jake's mouth on mine. My lips throbbed. His tooth brushed my lip. My mouth was dry. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't pull away. Jake's hand moved up. His fingers traced beside my spine. I shivered.

I didn't notice we'd been moving until my back touched the house. I turned my cheek to breathe. Jake's lips were on my cheek. His lips sucked at my neck. It tickled. I laughed remembering the last person who'd showed interest in my neck.

Jake stopped.

"Jake." I kissed his cheek.

Jake put me down gently. "I have to go."

"J—" I reached but he backed away.

"There're a lot of changes," he said. His chest was heaving. "If I don't go I could hurt you. I can't."

I bit my lip and nodded. So much for this relationship being different. It was a bad sign that I only loved guys who could hurt me.

"Stop ignoring my texts," I demanded.

He nodded, walking backward. "If I stop ignoring your texts, will you come see me tomorrow?"

I laughed and shook my head. "No."

He paused.

"Just testing," I said.

"Testing me?" He frowned.

"No. Testing my willpower," I explained. "You can text me tomorrow and maybe I'll respond."

Jake smirked. He nodded. "Goodnight, Bella."

He ran around the house. He was too fast to follow. By the time I was a few feet forward he had vanished down the street.

My head was spinning. The lack of oxygen wasn't helping. As I made my way into the house I was perfectly aware that Dad had been timing how long I'd been. If it wasn't obvious before that I was getting more than fresh air, the unstoppable smile was the ultimate clue. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Dad's head following me. I felt his eyes on me as I went upstairs.

In my bedroom, I stared out the window for half an hour, hoping that the world would never run out of stones. Later I tried to sleep, but instead was locked into a staring contest with my ceiling. For a day that had turned pitiably sour it had ended faultlessly sweet.

When my eyes finally drooped and my grin calmed I thought nothing could bring me down. My last thought before I slept was that there was one problem I couldn't ignore. Lauren.

AUTHOR: Sorry it's so long!

Reviews are welcome.